A BOY has been left scarred for life after a holiday “Henna” tattoo went horribly wrong.

Liam Sayer, eight, had a temporary tattoo of his favourite Star Wars character, Darth Maul, painted on his shoulder at the end of a two-week holiday, at a Five-star hotel in Egypt.

But a week after arriving home, on his birthday, Liam woke to discover the tattoo had turned bright red, blistered and was swollen and weeping.

His horrified mum Sharon said: “I have never seen anything like it in my life.

“It was totally red raw. The only way I can describe it is it looked like when a cattle had been branded, it was all raised.

“The doctor said ‘how on earth could you allow him to have it?

You could have come home without your son. It could have killed him, it could have poisoned him!’ “I was horrified, I was mortified to think I had allowed it to happen.

“Since then, we have had so many doctors’ appointments, a few at the hospital, sleepless nights and three tubes of steroid cream.”

Sharon, 45, of Basildon, and her four-year-old daughter Lacy also had the tattoos, on July 7, which were advertised as Henna, however Liam’s tattoo was carried out by a different artist.

Doctors told her it was one of the worst allergic reactions they had seen and Liam will have to stay out of the sun for the remainder of the summer holidays to avoid it flaring up again.

Sharon had no idea it could be so dangerous and has chosen to speak out to warn other parents of the dangers of the black ink, which is often called Henna, but is a cheap imitation of the reddish brown ink, which is safe.

She said: “It has been really terrible. It has ruined his sixweek holiday, it has been weeks, but he is only just allowed out to play with the neighbours. It has been horrible.

“The black ink is only legal to use in hair dye.

“The only country to make it illegal is Canada.

It should be illegal everywhere, especially for children.

“I want to make other parents aware of its consequences. If I’d have seen a warning there is no way I would have allowed it to be done.”

The allergic reaction is slowly fading, but Liam has to be careful of going out in the sun and has been told the scars will never tan as he gets older.